Israel expressed "deep disappointment" Wednesday after Chile, El Salvador and Peru recalled their ambassadors over its military campaign in Gaza, saying they are encouraging Hamas in its attacks on the Jewish state.

On Tuesday, El Salvador's foreign ministry recalled its envoy for urgent consultations, speaking of what it called "indiscriminate" Israeli bombing of Gaza.

Influential British band Massive Attack dedicated their only Middle East gig to the children of Gaza, openly condemning Israel's "massacre" of the Palestinians.

As the band played in Byblos, in Lebanon, just a few hundred kilometers north of Gaza, swaying music-lovers on Tuesday night held up Palestinian flags as Massive Attack issued a rare, explicit condemnation of Israel's offensive.

Israeli holiday makers were evacuated from their Maldivian resort after one of them tore up an anti-Israeli placard equating the Nazi Swastika to the Israeli flag, officials said Wednesday.

Some 30 Israeli surfers were moved out to safety from Thulusdhoo island, near the capital island Male, as residents of the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim archipelago protested the pulling down of anti-Israeli placards.

Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar are among the Spanish stars behind an open letter condemning Israel’s bombardment of Gaza as “genocide”.

The actors and the director demanded a stronger response by the European Union to stop the military operation that has so far killed more than 1,200 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said Tuesday that any truce with Israel must include a stop to Israeli "aggression" and lifting of its Gaza blockade, as the death toll from 22 days of Israeli bombardment rose to 1,210.

"We don't accept any condition of ceasefire," Mohammed Deif said in an audio address carried by Hamas radio and television.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat blasted Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Free Patriotic Movement head MP Michel Aoun once again on Tuesday, denying that he discussed the presidential impasse with Speaker Nabih Berri or Hizbullah chief Sayyed Nassan Nasrallah.

"Let those among Christian figures who are holding onto their posts be reassured that we did not discuss the presidential vote with (Berri and) Sayyed Hassan,” Jumblat said after holding talks with the speaker in Ain el-Tineh, hitting out at Geagea and Aoun.

German police detained an 18-year-old man over an attempted arson attack against a synagogue Tuesday which drew a shocked reaction from the country's Jewish community.

The building in the western city of Wuppertal was not damaged in the incident and no one was hurt, a police spokesman said.

Waning U.S. influence and John Kerry's failed peace bid are hampering efforts to reach a Gaza truce, but America remains the sole power capable of brokering a deal to stop the fighting, analysts said.

Amid an unfortunate Arab power vacuum caused by Egypt's internal political upheavals, any ceasefire between Israel and Hamas still remains days away with neither side yet ready to bend, experts predicted.

Dozens of displaced Gaza families flooded into a U.N. school early Tuesday after Israel warned them to leave their homes, struggling to set up camp in a cramped, dirty courtyard. 

Hundreds of homeless Gazans were already living there, with this school in the northern town of Jabaliya packed to overflowing.

The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday.

"Gaza's sole power plant has stopped working due to Israeli shelling last night, which damaged the steam generator and later hit the fuel tanks which set them on fire," Fathi al-Sheikh Khalil told Agence France Presse.